So Samsung Has A Gaming Laptop Now

Not content with making every other technology product under the sun, Samsung now has a gaming laptop in its repertoire. It actually sounds pretty good on paper, too, if you want a powerful 15- or 17-inch machine that'll run double duty for workday tasks and casual PC gaming.

The Samsung Notebook Odyssey uses Samsung's own in-house components like the 950 Pro M.2 SSD and RAM and a Samsung-made LCD panel for its laptop display, but actually has decent CPU and GPU specs -- the crucial element when it comes to gaming. Using a 7th-gen Core i7 processor and Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1050, the Odyssey should be capable of playing modern games at decent visual quality at playable frame rates on the go.

Available as either a 15-inch or 17-inch variant, both with 1080p matte panels, the Notebook Odyssey has shades of Razer Blade in its design, with a little bit of the flair of Alienware's gaming machines. The 17-inch model doubles the RAM and SSD capacity, and there's even an old-school turbo button that pushes the CPU to its maximum frequency.

2.5mm of travel on the Odyssey's RGB-backlit keyboard should make for decent tactile response whether it's typing or gameplay. "Carefully integrated heat management" including dual fans, heatpipes and a 'hexaflow' vent on the laptop's base should keep heat output at an acceptable level. The laptop's RAM and SSD are upgradeable in the future, too.

Early hands on aren't exactly glowing, but we'll let you know what we think when and if we get a chance to try one out on the CES show floor. No word on whether the Notebook Odyssey will make it to Australia just yet, though -- we're tracking that information down for you ASAP. [Samsung]

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Comments

I'm surprised. I thought Samsung was getting out of the laptop business. I bought a Samsung laptop some 2 years ago and was generally happy with it, but disappointed when Samsung models started drying up at laptop outlets. When I asked they said WTTE of Samsung not wanting to make any more laptops.

Nah just a readily available alternative to Windows actually shipping for consumers. Tizen is Samsung's Linux distro that at one point they were actually going to ship on laptops, now just a few smartphones

I already game on Linux and my PC case is well capable of holding down paper

Most consumers don't know there are alternatives, or that they can change their OS. For instance you and @soldant weren't aware that Linux is becoming a viable gaming platform. Once you get it shipping and in the market place, the software that you complain about missing suddenly becomes available.

Either way, I was more lamenting what could have been - Tizen as an alternative championing Linux, from samsung

Except it isn't. Linux as a collective whole makes up less than 1% of the Steam Hardware/Software survey, and it's been falling. Even MacOS ranks higher. Linux is still awful for games compared to Windows.

This argument has been thrown about for the last 15+ years or so - "If only more people knew about it, the software support would pick up!" - but it's never, ever materialised. Even SteamOS couldn't change that. Not saying that's a good thing, just that anybody who thinks Linux is truly a viable alternative for PC gamers is kidding themselves.

So basically you want to force linux upon people so you dont feel like a loner? As i said previously. No one is stopping you from installing linux.

People choose windows because its easy to use. Linux is not. You want to force linux upon others. If you think linux is good, All the more to you. continue to use it. But linux will always remain where it is today.

@soldant - 1% of more than 125 million active steam users is still a significant number of users. Outside of steam the estimated usage is approaching 3%. Pretty good for an OS that is not sold. I don't know where you think people generally are knowing about DESKTOP Linux that the software hasn't caught up, the only big name commercial shipping computer with Linux on it is the XPS 13 dev edition, and that is only in US and EU.

BTW - anyone who says that Linux is not a viable gaming platform, has not gamed on it. 43 of the top 100 steam games last year are on Linux. Sounds pretty viable to me

@djbear - people don't choose Windows, but people do choose Linux. Windows is that thing that the end user puts up with, it is not easy to use, it is just what people are taught. It comes with their computer and they think that is just what a computer is. Modern Linux is ridiculously user friendly (my 70 year old father uses it and he hasn't even seen the bash prompt), saying other wise just shows you haven't used it recently (or so ingrained with Windows that when Linux is not a 1:1 copy of your Win experience you get frustrated, say its too hard and move on)

Either way my point was that it's a shame that Samsung are not taking risks or carving out new territory. It's a shame the whole PC space is not taking risks any more and I feel a post Windows realm is where that lies

@grim - So, I could have an OS that plays 43% of the Top 100, plus doesn't run loads of other stuff... or I could use Windows, and run all of the Top 100 plus loads of other stuff.

Come on, less than 1% of Steam users use it, and given how pervasive Steam is with PC gaming, that's an abysmal figure. You can love the OS all you want, but pretty much nobody wants a Linux gaming laptop. The numbers just aren't there for it to make business sense. Plenty of manufacturers have tried pushing Linux as a Windows alternative - and most stopped, because most consumers don't want Linux.

Selling a laptop with linux instead of windows will fail dismally. Are you really saying you dont want to give people a choice between a windows loaded laptop and a linux one? You instead want them to only sell a linux device so people are forced to use it so they join your hipsterdom?

BTW, I regularly use linux. I work in IT. And i know for a fact your average user will not like it. Linux will always remain a niche market. Face facts. The gaming market is dominated by windows and it will remain that way.

I never said only Windows, just that it would be good if they did something different. It just takes someone doing different things to get a new market. Tizen could be the consumer Linux.

@soldant - every time a new Playstation or Xbox launches no one laments that you can't play all the previous games (or if they do it doesn't stop the new platform taking off). I'm just saying there is a burgeoning opportunity, and poo-pooing it because of old FUD about Linux is silly.

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